Food & Recipes

20-Minute Tomato Sauce

This quick and easy tomato sauce is great for pastas and lasagnas.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 3 TB. olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28-oz.) can plum tomatoes, chopped, liquid preserved
• 2 TB. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. sugar

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to a large sauté pan.
2. Sauté onions over medium heat for three minutes.
3. Add garlic and cook for an additional four to five minutes.
4. Add tomatoes, liquid, tomato paste, oregano, basil, salt, and sugar and cook, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes.

Tips: To use this sauce in a quick, tasty meal, cook a pound of your favorite pasta while stirring the sauce. You may be tempted, when preparing this sauce, to add other ingredients, from new herbs (rosemary, sage) to cooked hamburger or a number of other hearty ingredients. Go for it. Serve plates of pasta topped with sauce and Parmesan cheese, accompanied by a garden salad and fresh bread, and the stage is set for a great little meal.

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to 20-Minute Meals © 2003 by CWL Publishing Enterprises, Inc., John Woods, President. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

To order this book click here or call 1-800-253-6476.